There are quite a number of ‘early’ ones – 1930s and before, and in the last batch we post will be the very first school magazine, dating from 1897 (Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee year) and also the very last one before the school became comprehensive in 1972. A huge thank you to all who have loaned us their original copies for scanning.

There are many interesting stories in these old Penvros: a boy so keen to get home to Neyland that he stepped off the ferry before it was alongside the pontoon; bodyline bowling on the cricket pitch, when a boy had his skull fractured; a girl who left school, married an Italian Count and wrote/sent in a report on/about a Regatta in Venice; a school trip to Harfat by boat: the first ever rugby match against the ‘Coro’ in 1922; camping at Freshwater pre WW1; House Socials where one’s partner for the whole evening was chosen by picking names out of a hat and much more!

This ongoing project, started in March 2009, will ultimately see the scanning and uploading of decades of the original school magazine The Penvro. The purpose is to create a digital archive of this precious resource of Pembroke Dock/Pembroke Grammar School.

Presently we have a collection spanning from the 1900s to 1970-71 issues with more to come. We also acquired a few from earlier years which will be added once they are mended to conserve them before scanning.

Islwyn Griffiths kicks off the project with the hand-over
to Mike Knill of his collection of original Penvros

Click the bar for the decade you wish to view and a page of thumbnails will open.

Then simply click the on the thumbnail and The Penvro pdf will open in a new window. If you are having trouble reading the text once you open the pdf, click on + sign or the magnifying glass icon in the tool bar to increase to a size that is comfortable for you to read.

You can also rotate pages to view photos: right click and choose the rotate option. Or in the toolbar you may have the View option for this. Close the window to exit the pdf.

The pdfs are created from scans using OCR (optical character recognition) software and are completely searchable. See the toolbar in Adobe Acrobat Reader for the Find utility/slot and simply type in a name to find your special mention. You can also try the Google search utility on the home page which also covers the Penvros scanned to date.

Where copyright for photographs on this site is known, it is indicated. There are other examples where attempts to locate the copyright holders have failed. Wherever the original photographer or company is known they are attributed. However, in some cases, there is no indication of who took the original photo or where the copyright, if any, may reside. If anyone viewing the site can provide such information, the wishes of the copyright holder will be respected. Please contact:info@thepenvro.com